


we get what we think we deserve

by hitchhikersguidetotheuniverse



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: A little bit of angst, F/M, Jeronica Secret Santa, Love, Writer, a little bit of love, age is mentioned alot, blahhh, celebrity au?, football star, pop princess, songwriter - Freeform, turned musician
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 09:04:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17077370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hitchhikersguidetotheuniverse/pseuds/hitchhikersguidetotheuniverse
Summary: Betty's a pop princess, Archie's a football star turned musician, Jughead's a writer, and Veronica's 24.





	we get what we think we deserve

**Author's Note:**

> This is for jeronicamush over on Tumblr for Jeronica Secret Santa 2018. It became a little more Veronica centric then I originally planned, but I'm quite happy with the way that it turned out.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated!
> 
> Thanks for reading :)

It’s a little known fact that Veronica Lodge writes all of Betty Cooper’s songs. She never uses her real name, and she doesn’t want anyone to know.

Veronica has always been good at covering her tracks.

There is one downside to writing for Betty though. Betty is a pop princess, pretty in pastel pinks and bows, sweet and innocent and lovely. Veronica’s songs are raw and often full of pain. Betty and her team turn them into hits. Bright colours and a strong beat to cover up all of the angst.

Veronica hates that. They were never meant to be hits. They were meant to be real.

It works out well for Betty though. She’s a star with depth, who writes her own songs, is a ‘big sister’ to her numerous fans. She has an on and off again relationship with the writer Jughead Jones III, and is best friends with football star turned musician Archie Andrews.

Veronica isn’t doing so well.

She has wealthy parents, and talent, but that’s about it. She’s 23 and she still hasn’t figured out what the hell she wants to do with her life. She’s tried her hand at acting, photography, dancing, singing, and finally songwriting. She even started a music course at a performing arts school. She’d ended up dropping out, but that was where she’d met sweet, assuming Betty, who had an overprotective mother, who came from a small town, and who was desperately in love with her best friend.

Betty had finished her course, and had come away qualified. Veronica had turned back to songwriting and living off of her trust fund.

They’d moved in together, into Veronica’s beautifully furnished, paid-for-by-her-parents apartment.

And life had been alright for a while. Betty would go do her day job as a waitress at a local cafe and at night she’d perform gigs around New York. She’d sing covers - all pop songs - Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. Veronica would stay at home all day and write songs, at the piano, on her guitar - sometimes just jotting down lyrics. At night, or more accurately, in the very early hours of the morning, when Betty was long asleep, Veronica would go to clubs and dance and drink and flirt with strangers.

But the sun would come up eventually, and Veronica had to slink back to the apartment, make up smudged and glitter in her hair, a sinking feeling in her chest. She’d crawl into bed and Betty would already be gone by the time she got up again.

That was the cycle, that was Veronica’s life, until Betty found her songs.

Veronica didn’t know why she’d kept it from her roommate. But those songs were a little piece of her soul that she’d cleaved off and put into words. They were her when nothing else was.

And they were secret.

But Betty had found them and she’d gushed and exclaimed, and begged Veronica to let her sing some of them at a well-paying, hard-to-get gig that she’d finally manage to score.

Veronica, ever a pawn when it came to Betty, agreed.

And so Betty performed her gig, singing that songs that she’d liked the most in her own preppy, bubblegum way. Veronica was proud, but she couldn’t quite help the sick feeling that arose in her stomach as she listened to Betty sing her songs in a way that Veronica had never intended them to be sung.

Overnight, Veronica’s life changed. Someone had posted a video of Betty’s set online, and the Internet was erupting. Betty, it seemed, was a star.

Soon, there were talks of recording an album, going on tour, giving interviews. Veronica didn’t know how it had happened, but her best friend was famous.

Veronica kept writing her songs. Betty kept turning them into pop, recording them, and like clockwork, they became hits.

And then album sales were through the roof.

Betty’s dream had come true, and Veronica was 24.

* * *

 

Betty goes on tour that summer. Veronica writes more songs and watches Audrey Hepburn films, and according to the opinions of her parents, wastes her life away.

Veronica wishes that they weren’t right.

But most of all she wonders if this is what she deserves.

* * *

 

She meets Jughead Jones the third when she goes to see Betty on tour in the fall. He’s a sardonic, flannel wearing, Dan Humphrey esque writer, who smokes and references films that you have to watch with subtitles.

Veronica likes him instantly - he has wit to match her own, and the knowledge to go with it.

Allegedly, he’s Betty’s boyfriend, but Betty tells her its not exclusive. Veronica takes that to mean that they’re sleeping together with no commitments.

She wonders if they know that kind of thing never works out.

* * *

 

As it turns out, by some cruel twist of fate, or the fact that the universe seems to hate Veronica Lodge, Archie Andrews, Veronica’s boyfriend from her acting days is Betty’s childhood best friend and unrequited love.

She tells this to Jughead over coffee and arguments and he quietly laughs at her until she’s laughing too, and for a moment, a brief shining single moment, she’s actually okay.

* * *

 

Betty and Jughead break up again in the winter. Despite this being their fourth breakup, the tabloids have a field day with it. When Veronica meets him for their tri-weekly argumentative coffee date, she asks him if she’s in love with Betty.

He grins at her, a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, and answers ‘no’.

Even though Veronica knows he thinks he’s telling the truth, his reply does not make her feel any better.

* * *

 

In summer, Veronica is 25 and Betty has a drug problem.

She finds out accidentally. She’s only looking through the medicine cabinet, when she finds prescriptions from someone named ‘Dr Glass’. After a slight bit of digging, Veronica discovers that Dr Glass is Betty’s therapist.

After a bit more digging, she discovers that Dr Glass doesn’t exist, and Betty has been forging prescriptions and becoming addicted to Adderall.

Veronica doesn’t know what to do. Betty seems fine, normal even.

She calls Jughead. ‘Did you know that Betty has a drug problem?’

At the end of the line, Jughead snorts. ‘Yeah, but it’s only Adderall. It’s not that big of a deal. She could be on heroin or something.’

Veronica nearly throws her phone at the wall. ‘Not that big of a deal? She’s addicted! She might need to go to rehab!’

‘Veronica,’ Jughead says, ‘Don’t worry about Betty. She’ll be fine. Worry about yourself for once. You are allowed to.’

Jughead disconnects, and Veronica wishes that someone would give her a great big hug.

* * *

 

Betty refuses to go to rehab. Then she has a seizure, and Alice, Betty’s mother, steps in and sends her to an institution called ‘The Sisters of Quiet Mercy’.

Veronica’s glad for the most part. It means that Betty will get help, that she’ll finally be okay again.

But at the same time, Veronica is lonely. She has Jughead, usually, if he’s not off somewhere getting high and pretending he doesn’t have feelings. Sometimes she has Archie, who’s as worried about Betty as she is.

But mostly she’s alone, writing her songs, which are increasingly less pop and more depressing.

* * *

 

She’s 26 when she realises that she’s in love with Jughead. Betty’s out of rehab and doing well, only playing small shows and trying out writing her own songs. She’s moved out of Veronica’s apartment and back to her hometown, where she and Archie spend their days falling in love and doing 'couple' things.

Veronica tries not to be bitter.

Jughead, ever the runaway, has disappeared off the face of the earth. For once, Veronica is grateful for it. She can’t face him if what she thinks she’s feeling is actually what she thinks she’s feeling.

So she writes. And then she books a gig.

She’s 26 and she’s finally figuring things out.

* * *

 

She plays the show. She likes it. She hates that she likes it.

She books another one.

* * *

 

Jughead comes to see a show. She’s almost halfway through her set when she sees him, standing alone in the back, looking at her thoughtfully. She smiles. He smiles back.

He comes to every show she performs after that.

* * *

 

Veronica’s nearly 27 when Jughead publishes his first full-length novel. He says it’s part truth and part fiction, a love letter he never sent and an ode to the small town that raised him.

Veronica reads it and reads it again and thinks that Jughead might be a little bit in love with her too.

* * *

 

Veronica is 27 when Jughead kisses her for the first time. It’s sweet and simple and after a show. He’s all happy and grinning and wearing a stupid crown shaped beanie and he kisses her.

She pulls that beanie off his head and runs her fingers through his silky hair and likes the way his lips feel against hers.

He moves in 3 months later.

* * *

 

Betty finds out, as Betty always does. She doesn’t berate Veronica for falling for her ex boyfriend. She doesn’t do anything at all, except hug Veronica, and tell her to write a good song about it.

Veronica does.

* * *

 

Jughead proposes in the most Jughead way possible - grabbing her hand and sliding a ring onto that finger and saying ‘I’m going to marry you Veronica Lodge.’

Veronica only laughs, but when she’s 28, he does.

* * *

 

In the end, the only things that Veronica was ever afraid of was not being able to figure out who she was and being alone.

She knows who she is now. She’s a songwriter and she’s a muse. She’s a performer, and she’s someone who doesn’t live in the shadow of their parents.

She and Jughead move out of Veronica’s paid-for-by-her-parents apartment and get their own house, and an adorable puppy that they name Hot Dog and they’re happy.

Archie and Betty have two cute-as-a-button kids and Veronica’s a godmother two times over.

She knows who she is. She’s not alone.

It doesn’t matter how old she is anymore.

* * *

 

Still, Veronica’s 30 when she releases her first album. She calls it _We Get What We Think We Deserve_.

It sells well, not as well as something Betty releases might, but still, it sells well.

* * *

 

She sings _we get what we think we deserve, until someone shows us something better_.

 


End file.
